One of the peculiarities of modern football is that nearly every club is a global brand.

You’d expect the bigger Premier League clubs to have a worldwide reach, the like of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Maybe you would find a football fan outside the UK who took to a mid-table club, like a South African who supported Newcastle or a Canadian whose heart belonged to Aston Villa.

But for the most part, the wide-reaching international fan-bases were historically the domain of the big fish in the top flight.

Not anymore.

Through a messy and interconnected set of circumstances - the internet, globalisation, the FIFA video game series - clubs throughout the Football League have been gathering new fans from around the world.

AFC Wimbledon has been a notable beneficiary of this emerging phenomenon in recent years.

The growing international awareness of and appreciation for the English game, combined with a captivating history and a wellspring of sympathy for what happened that awful day in 2002, has attracted a bevy of fans from throughout the Commonwealth, as well as Europe, southeast Asia, and the US.

For the latest Dons news, follow @ylgsport

Which brings me to Nerdfighteria.

Last year, YouTube celebrity and New York Times bestselling author John Green announced his “strangest project yet”. 

Green started a new YouTube series featuring him playing FIFA 14 as the Dons. Each episode features narration in which he constructs elaborate (and frequently absurd) narratives around the fictional team.

Ad revenue from the series is being used to fund a sponsorship agreement with the club.

A year later, the deal has yielded significant dividends. The agreement initially called for advertisement hoardings at Kingsmeadow - designed by Green’s fans, who call themselves Nerdfighters - but has since been expanded to include a back-of-shorts sponsorship.

More to the point, the agreement with Green has attracted new fans. Lots of them. From all across the world.

Some who never would’ve heard of Wimbledon were it not for all this. While there are some whose engagement with the club and its supporters is minimal, there are also quite a few new subscribers to Radio WDON, tuning in at strange hours to hear of the exploits of a small fan-owned football club in England’s fourth division.

Reactions from local Dons supporters have varied- some confused, others worried about a slippery slope towards foreign investment, still more resentful at their club being “treated like a charity.”

Yet for the most part, the supporters have been welcoming.

Geoff Hawley from Radio WDON acknowledged the Nerdfighter community’s “support and positive energy” in noting the positive impacts brought on by the new wave of fans.

Some football supporters choose their club, and some have it thrust on them. No matter who you support, you are volunteering for a life of disappointment and heartbreak.

For many thousands across the world who call themselves Nerdfighters, brought together under the shared values of intellectual exploration and community service, they like their choices.